Russia-linked religious groups banned in Ukraine

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The activities of Russian`s linked religious organizations is restricted in Ukraine.

As “Aljazeera” reported president Volodomyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv is concerned Moscow-linked actors could ‘weaken Ukraine from within’.

After the raid on the monastery last week, the Ukraine security services will begin an investigation into a Moscow-linked branch of the Orthodox Church.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video released on Thursday said “The National Security and Defence Council has instructed the government to propose to (parliament) a bill on proscribing activities in Ukraine by religious organisations affiliated with centres of influence in Russia.”

Zelenskyy said the security services investigation would look into whether the Moscow branch of the church was entitled to operate at one of Ukraine’s most hallowed sites – the Pechersk Lavra complex in Kyiv.

The Orthodox Church in Russia has repeatedly voiced support for the Kremlin’s nine-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who heads the Russian Orthodox Church, has described the war as a “metaphysical struggle” between Moscow and the West.

Part of the Ukrainian church broke with Moscow in 2019 over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in the eastern Donbas region, after hundreds of years of spiritual leadership from Moscow.

While the Moscow-linked church formally severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church last May, it is still mistrusted by many Ukrainians and accused of secret cooperation with Russia.

“We have to create conditions so that no actors dependent on the aggressor state (Russia) can manipulate Ukrainians and weaken Ukraine from within,” Zelenskyy said.